Melin-y-Wig

Melin-y-Wig is a village in Denbighshire, Wales. It is situated on the River Clwyd (Welsh: Afon Clwyd). Rising in the nearby Clocaenog Forest (grid reference SJ045535), the river flows due south up to Melin-y-Wig, when it suddenly changes direction north-eastwards:^[1]

After flowing in a generally southerly direction from Waen Ganol to Melin-y-Wig, the river turns abruptly eastwards to flow through a deep, narrow gorge north of Moel Clegyr, swings north and northeast round Dinas and then continues on a course somewhat north of east below Derwen ...^[2]

The village once had its own school, but in the mid-1960s, it was decided to close it in favour of the primary school in Betws Gwerful Goch.^[3] The last headteacher was Mr Oswyn Williams.

Melin-y-Wig is noted for a Welsh nursery rhyme about it:

Bachgen bach o Felin-y-wig,
welodd o 'rioed damaid o gig;
Gwelodd falwen ar y bwrdd,
cipiodd ei gap a rhedodd i ffwrdd.

This translates as:

A little boy from Melin-y-wig,
he never saw a morsel of meat;
He saw a snail on the table,
he snatched his hat and ran away.

^[4]

Dinas Melin-y-Wig

Dinas Melin-y-Wig (53.0313°N 3.4191°W / 53.0313; -3.4191 (Dinas Melin-y-Wig)) is the remains of an Iron Age hillfort, dated about c. 800 BC – AD 74. The monument has helped understanding of later prehistoric defensive organisation and settlement.^[5]